Just Want to Say
Bookmarks
I used to collect bookmarks. I had a whole little basket full of them. Most I had purchased, or someone had made for me. One, a friend brought back from England for me. It was a representation of a “jam butty” – a piece of bread with jam smeared on it. This and other bookmarks…
Read MoreBlogging by the letter (and sharing a book)
After the events of last week, it’s difficult to get back to blogging as usual, but I am going to try. In an effort to keep me on course with my blogging here this year, I’ve decided to take inspiration from the A-Z Challenge that happens every April. Don’t worry – I won’t post daily!…
Read MoreTwo Kids’ Books That Bring Home the Harsh Reality of Residential Schools in Canada
Reading to learn, reading to seek justice — in the spirit of #WeNeedDiverseBooks, I’m exploring two books today about Residential Schools in Canada. First Nations children were still being taken from their homes and forced to attend residential schools when I was in school. I am grateful that these schools are no longer in existence.…
Read MoreHappy Halloweensie!
I can’t let this day go by without alerting you to the delightful treats (in the form of delectable morsels of stories) available at Susanna Leonard Hill’s stellar blog. Yes! It’s the annual HALLOWEENSIE story contest! (The SIXTH annual, no less.) There’s not much time left to get a story written and entered (you have…
Read MoreSpring = Growth, Possibilities, Energy, Hope
On the prairies where I live, April is a time when we’re usually emerging from a cold, snowy, difficult winter. This winter was an anomaly, but there’s still the feeling of emerging from a tunnel into the open air. The sunshine is warm again, the birds are singing, and the crocuses (okay, croci) are blooming…
Read MoreInterview Alert — Emma Walton Hamilton’s Just Write for Children online courses
Hi, all — I want to alert you to an updated interview with Emma Walton Hamilton, about her online courses, Just Write for Kids, Just Write for Middle Grade, and Just Write for Young Adults. She has updated the courses (as well as the interview), and I don’t want you to miss this! These courses…
Read MoreNames and Titles: a writer’s thoughts on choosing them well
Names. Titles. Sometimes it seems that coming up with the right ones takes nearly as much time as crafting the book itself. I know I spend a long time trying to get my characters’ names, and my book titles, just right. It may seem to the non-writer that a name is a name. But imagine…
Read MoreVictoria Day
“The twenty-fourth of May is the Queen’s birthday — If you don’t give us a holiday we’ll all run away!” My dad (who was born in 1913, and attended a 2-room school in rural Saskatchewan) chanted a version of that poem along with his schoolmates, and, as it turns out, with many other school children…
Read More